


Come to your Senses

by rudbeckia



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: First Time, First Time Blow Jobs, Force Bond (Star Wars), Force-Sensitive Hux, Hand Jobs, M/M, Minor Character Death, Oral Sex, Rimming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-30
Updated: 2018-02-11
Packaged: 2019-03-11 14:16:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13526034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rudbeckia/pseuds/rudbeckia
Summary: Rescued from a mentally draining experience on Crait, Kylo Ren is a mess. Hux brings him back to The Finalizer to recover, and so that he can assess the condition of the new Supreme Leader. Hux lets Ren know why he is not afraid of him, and this leads to Ren making a discovery about Hux. Something Snoke always knew and concealed from them both.Hux is not the weak, force blind fool that Snoke encouraged Ren to despise.





	1. Chapter 1

General Hux marched onto the bridge of the Finalizer already shouting orders and barely giving a thought to the sorry state of Kylo Ren, hidden in his own private chambers with strict instructions to _pull yourself together and behave like you’re the supreme leader_. “You!” Hux pointed at a grey-uniformed officer down in the data pit. “Track that freighter’s hyperspace jump vector. Get a list of possible destinations to me. I want a preliminary report within ten minutes. You,” he pointed at another, barely distinguishable from the first. “Get an intelligence team into that bunker. Sift through the twisted shreds of the Resistance tech in that blasted cave for any evidence of where the remnants of the rebel scum might find shelter or support. Commandeer as many officers and troopers as you see fit and notify me when you have salvaged every scrap of data. And you,” Hux pointed again, a third officer snapping to full attention. “Coordinate with her...” he pointed at the first lieutenant he’d singled out, “...to cross reference coordinates with known and suspected resistance sympathisers. Go right back to the days of the Empire. Overlook nothing.”

His most able lieutenants scurrying to obey, Hux turned to the only two pairs of eyes on the bridge willing to hold his gaze for longer than a second. He addressed Captain Peavey in loud, clipped tones. “We must find that ship for the Supreme Leader.” To Captain Opan he spoke softly. “Inform High Command that the Supreme Leader is not to be disturbed. Report back on any unprofessional responses.”  
“You do know, sir,” said Peavey, voice just loud enough to betray his doubt to those working nearby, “that the rebel ship will have jumped again and we’ll have lost it. My counterpart on The Supremacy reported that the hyperspace tracking unit was damaged by a power surge... Sorry, sir.”  
Peavey stiffened and saluted with a grimace. There was no doubting the look of fury on General Hux’s face and Peavey was overcome with an overwhelming desire not to upset the general any further.

Command crew busy for now, Hux marched to his bridge quarters, really just a small bunk-room with a private ‘fresher, almost adjoining the bridge. He checked his collar in the mirror, washed the salt from his face and smoothed his hair with damp hands, then marched back out to his more opulent private quarters. He stopped outside his own door, hand raised over the button that would request admission, then chewed his lower lip once and let himself in. He frowned at the space where he had left Kylo Ren, curled up as if collapsing in on himself. Ren was definitely still in the vicinity. Hux could feel him like the shades he used to almost-see at night as a child when his mother told him ghost stories. A menacing presence just beyond vision.  
“Supreme Leader?”  
“In here.”  
Hux made no move to follow Ren’s voice to its source somewhere far beyond the semi-public area of his suite where he held private meetings and occasionally consented to entertain guests. Instead he called sharply, “Have you come to your senses yet?”

A crash answered him and Hux wished for a moment that he’d taken Ren back to The Supremacy and left him in a heap on the floor of his personal shuttle bay on his damaged flagship.  
“You could have,” Ren’s voice came nearer. “You could have sent me back on a shuttle. Why didn’t you?”

_Because you looked pathetic, Ren, and—_

Hux held up his hand in a defensive gesture. “Going for my windpipe again? No? Good. I brought you here so that you would not be on display. The First Order needs a leader who is seen to be strong, not a snivelling manchild throwing a tantrum because some girl said _no_ and ran away.” Hux took pleasure in Ren’s growl when his face appeared in the doorway. “You were embarrassing. Out of control. Well, we’ll soon have them for you. I have my best officers—”  
“Don’t be so sure,” replied Ren. “She’s powerful. She killed Snoke.”  
“One of the reasons I do not fear you, Kylo Ren,” said Hux slowly, “is that I can always tell when you are lying. The girl did not kill the Supreme Leader. You did.”  
Ren stared, hand poised in front of him to attack, but Hux shook his head and smiled.  
“Best career move you could have made. Snoke held you back just like... well. Problem solved, I’d say.”

Ren glared but stepped into the room, lurking in the doorway like a wary animal. Hux walked forward and found himself facing Ren’s lightsaber. He tutted.  
“Now where would that get you, Supreme Leader? It’s like another kind of lie. I know you don’t want me dead. Not right now, anyway.”  
“But you wanted me dead,” replied Ren, not moving. “In Snoke’s throne room. My throne room.”  
Hux laughed. “Yes. I confess that for a few seconds I considered shooting you while you lay helpless.”  
“Why didn’t you?” demanded Ren, jabbing the lightsaber closer. Hux flinched and looked at it with disgust and, maybe, just a little fear. He made eye contact with Ren again, and let anger chase the expression from his face.  
“Because _someone_ needs to be seen to be in command.” Once started, Hux found it difficult to hold back. _”Someone_ needs to take the blame for the monumental cockup that led to _someone_ inviting the most powerful enemy of the First Order into the Supreme Leader’s presence, and that _someone_ is not going to be me!”

Hux only realised as he stopped that he had been shouting. The lightsaber was gone and Ren stood in front of him, frowning. When he spoke, his voice was quiet and even.  
“How did you know I was lying about the girl?”  
Hux sighed, resisting the temptation to retort _your mouth has sounds coming out of it_ , and said, “I can always tell. It was so obvious it’s laughable. The only times I couldn’t be sure if you believed what you were saying or not were when we had an audience together with Leader Snoke.”  
“I _always_ told him the truth!”  
“Well then. Perhaps that accounts for it,” said Hux. “Now stand aside. I want to use my ‘fresher.”

Hux tried to walk past but Ren’s arm was in his way. He glared at Ren. “Let me go!”  
Ren shook his head. “No. Not yet. I need to see something for myself.”  
“What are you talking about?” Hux pushed Ren’s arm off but Ren caught him again.  
“Think about it, Hux!” Ren’s face loomed too close. “Think for just one second. You can tell when I speak whether or not I believe what I am saying. Is that what you mean?”  
“Well, I suppose it is,” said Hux, pushing a little. Ren resisted. “Move your arm.”  
“Does it work with other people?”  
“I am _very_ good at spotting when someone is trying to fool me. Is that what you mean?” Hux reddened at the thought of the rebel pilot who had humiliated him as a distraction then led the attack that had destroyed The Fulminatrix so recently that the memory struck heat. “Usually,” he muttered, “if I’m not too distracted.”  
“But,” Ren stared back, hand turning Hux’s pink face, redirecting his averted gaze. “But not when the Sup— Snoke was paying attention?”  
“What are you do—“ Hux closed his eyes and writhed, fear suddenly rising to unsettle him, pushing Ren back. Ren held on, one hand on Hux’s head and the other arm like a clamp around his shoulders.  
“I mean you no harm. Don’t fight me,” he said, a little impatiently. “I will see what... Oh. Oh Armitage. I see what you are.”

Hux went limp and Ren held him upright until he recovered enough to stand on his own. This time when Hux pushed away, Ren let him go.  
“You didn’t know,” said Ren. “How could you have not known?”  
“Get out!” Hux pointed at the door.  
“You still don’t know. Did you never even suspect?”  
“Ren, leave. Now.”  
“All those coincidences over the years. All that luck that worked in your favour. You thought it was just... taking advantage of random situations, and... and natural skill at manipulating people.”  
“LEAVE!”  
Ren smiled and leaned closer. He put one hand on Hux’s shoulder. “Look at me right now and tell me if I am lying to you.” He tilted Hux’s chin again and almost laughed at the flickering uncertainty coming in waves from Hux. He waited for Hux to calm. “I don’t know why I never suspected it of you before. Snoke must have seen it and blinded me to it like he blinded you to your own potential.”  
“Ren, what the kriff—“  
“No wonder Snoke kept you close and beaten down. Rabid cur, hah! You’re using the force, Hux. Just a little. And you have no idea.”  
“Don’t be ridiculous.”  
“Well,” said Ren letting go and stepping back and walking toward the door. “You’re weak, but you’d know if I lied to you.”

Hux bristled at the word _weak_ but Ren was already at the main door and shouting for his shuttle to be made ready. He let Ren go then scoffed at the revelation and went to refresh his fatigued mood in the sanisteam. Him! A force user! Ridiculous. Leader Snoke suppressing it instead of encouraging him to use it to further the First Order? Laughable. If it were true, as Kylo Ren mistakenly believed, then Leader Snoke could have had him and Ren working together instead of pitting them against one another. Hux huffed and shook his head as he turned off the sanisteam and inspected the clean uniform hanging in his dressing room. If Kylo Ren were still here, he’d ask the ass what in the galaxy did he think Snoke’s motive could have been for—

Hux’s comlink pinged. He shook off the thought and tapped the device.  
_You were thinking about me, and about the force. You were calling to me. I felt it._  
Hux scoffed again and dropped the device. He spoke to it aloud. “Don’t be ridiculous.” As if to prove his point, Hux sat down, closed his eyes and called easily from memory an image of the new Supreme Leader. “How did an ugly nerf herder like you get to be Supreme Leader?” he asked of the image, then gave an embarrassed laugh at his own behaviour. He stood up and went to dress properly. As he pulled on his tunic, his comlink pinged again. Hux ignored it until he was fully dressed. On reading the message, he felt the room swim.  
_I’m told nerf herding is an honest way of making a living._

Recovered in seconds and dismissing Ren’s message as a coincidence or perhaps a lucky guess at a common insult, Hux got back to work. The bridge was a scene of orderly activity and he soon slipped into routine. Reports were coming in quickly, and each added a little more detail to the puzzle of where to look for the last remnants of the rebellion. And yet it was far from enough to pin them down. Hux clenched his fists tight as, one by one, promising leads were countered by conflicting reports from the First Order intelligence network. The specialist tech team had packed up every scrap of potentially revelatory material from the resistance cavern on Crait, at least what little of it Kylo Ren had left intact, and brought it to the Finalizer for analysis. All they’d got so far was a list of coordinates of old bases that had been abandoned or destroyed by the Empire decades ago. Hux ground his teeth then barked at everyone to keep looking and leave nothing unreported.

Unbidden, a thought of Kylo Ren came to his mind and he blinked it away. He would report to the Supreme Leader as soon as he had something concrete to offer, and not before. The thought came again. Kylo Ren’s face, frowning at him.  
_Stop looking. You are wasting your time._  
Hux yelled orders to send reconnaissance droids to survey the bases that were recorded as abandoned but not destroyed in case the rebels thought they had another quiet corner of the galaxy to hole up in. Kylo Ren appeared in his head again.  
_Come to me._

Hux ignored the vision as the deranged imagining of his sleep-deprived brain. Minutes later, the petty officer on comms called out. “Sir! Incoming priority transmission from the Supreme Leader.”  
Hux almost snarled. “Put it through.”  
A second later, Kylo Ren’s scowling face flickered larger than life-size on the bridge holo-display.  
“General! I require your immediate presence. Do not ignore me again.”  
The holo-image vanished. Hux swallowed and licked dry lips.  
“Captain Peavey?”  
“Yes, sir?”  
“You have the bridge.”  
“Yes, sir.”  
“Keep looking for that freighter.”  
“Yes, sir.”  
“I will return as soon as Leader Ren... Um.” Peavey was hiding a smirk. Hux was sure of it and equally sure that the captain would pay for the insubordination just as soon as—  
Ren’s face appeared again.  
_”NOW, General!”_  
Startled into motion, Hux issued his last command over his shoulder as he left the bridge. “Report anything significant!”  
Peavey didn’t bother hiding his expression this time when he replied, “Yes, sir.”

Hux ordered a shuttle and was soon on The Supremacy, his shuttle dwarfed by Kylo Ren’s Upsilon and looking shabby beside Kyo Ren’s TIE-Silencer. Hux regarded his shuttle with a swell of superiority brought on by pride in its relative modesty and his own lack of ostentation, then marched through the Supreme Leader’s personal hangar. He went first to the throne room, finding it bare and empty, cleared of the charred wall hangings and the remains of the praetorian guards that had formed its most recent gruesome decor. He stared at the obsidian throne and felt his stomach heave as he recognised that the claw-like object on the armrest was Snoke’s left hand. He wondered if Ren was keeping it as a memento.

 _I told you to come to me._  
Was that a note of amusement in the voice in his head? Hux banished the thought and and went to Kylo Ren’s suite. He let himself in and looked around, but he knew immediately that Ren was not present. For a moment Hux wondered if Ren was engaging him in some kind of elaborate game of hide and seek and his temper flared at the waste of his time.  
_Hux!_ A voice whispered in his ear and he whipped around, but Kylo Ren was not there. _You won’t find me by searching my ship. You won’t find the rebels by searching the galaxy. Use all of your senses. Feel where I am._  
“REN!” Hux yelled and thumped his fist on the wall. Somehow, Hux definitely got the impression that Ren was laughing at him. He opened and clenched his fists a few times and forced calm over his frustrated ire. “Fine,” he said out loud to the cold air. “I’ll play your stupid game.”

Hux sat on Ren’s chair and scowled at nothing. After a couple of minutes he snapped at the empty room that he was tired of this nonsense and would return to the Finalizer. But he did not rise, not immediately. Hux allowed his eyes to close, aware that it had been days since he last had any sleep to speak of and Ren’s living area (without Ren) was one place he could rest and not be disturbed. He would get up. Walk around. He would not show weakness by falling asleep in the Supreme Leader’s private quarters. Hux thought about the way Ren usually stood blocking the doorway as if guarding his territory, gave himself a slow count back from ten then opened his eyes with reluctance.  
“Oh!”  
“You found me!” Ren smiled. “I knew you could if you opened your mind a little. Can you see where I am?”  
Hux frowned and looked around. “You’re in your private chambers with me, obviously. How did you get back here so quietly? Your rooms were empty when I came in and I didn’t hear the door.”  
Ren’s smile widened and he shook his head. “Oh, Armitage. Look closer. What can you see?”  
“You. Sitting on your sofa.”  
“Do you remember me ever having a sofa?”  
“You must have brought it with you. Came in while I drifted off for a minute.” Hux giggled at the image of Kylo Ren sneaking into his own suite carrying a sofa, putting it down and waiting for him to notice. “It’s the only logical explanation.”  
Ren laughed and covered his mouth. Hux felt he might float away with Ren’s mirth, Ren’s presence warmed the air in this chilly room. But then Ren was scrutinising him again and he suppressed his latest eruption of giggles. “Do you like the colour?” asked Ren. “Doesn’t it look familiar? Armitage, tell me what else you can see.”  
“Kylo Ren! You’re...” Hux felt his face heat up but he leaned closer and he couldn’t drag his eyes away. “Put your tunic back on immediately! I know you must be as exhausted as I am but you can wait until I have gone before you undress for bed.“  
“But I can’t go until you release me, Armitage.” Ren leaned forward too and stroked Hux’s cheek with soft fingertips. “Wake up.”

The warmth was gone. Hux jerked awake with a groan, felt for the ghost of a touch on his cheek then rubbed his cold and aching neck, a headache threatening to build and ruin his brief rest. He sighed and stood up, checking his chrono. He’d only drifted off for a handful of minutes. It took a few seconds more for him to remember a dream in which Kylo Ren was lounging half-undressed on a cool blue sofa like the one in the suite he used when he remained on The Supremacy. Embarrassment made him cringe, but he pushed it aside. Dreams meant nothing, merely the brain trying to make something out of too much input from his senses and not enough sleep. Still, he thought, the suite was nearby, there was no immediate danger of attack, his officers were competently searching for the freighter that carried off the last of the rebel scum, and an hour spent asleep in comfort followed by a cup of tarine tea would refresh him and prevent further hallucinations. He would go to his suite and send Ren a message to comm him when he tired of this silliness.

Hux felt the headache lift as soon as his mind was made up. He marched from Ren’s cold and empty rooms to his usual suite. The door opened and he went inside, a command to set the heating and lighting already spilling from his lips as he registered that it was already warm and a comfortable glow came from the recessed lights. He passed through the small entryway into the main reception room and stopped, jaw slack. Kylo Ren smiled at him from the sofa.  
“Told you you’d find me.”  
“I fell asleep. I dreamed that you’d—“  
“Stolen your sofa, carried it into my room, put it down and sat on it, all without you hearing me. You insisted it was the only possible explanation. You found it as hilarious as I did.”  
“How...” Hux frowned and shook his head. “How?”  
“I put my tunic back on to save your embarrassment about how much you didn’t want me to know that you liked seeing me like that.” Heat flamed Hux’s face and Ren laughed, but not unkindly. “Armitage, sit down. We have things to discuss.”  
“Of course we do,” snapped Hux, almost falling into the chair opposite Ren. “Like ‘what do you plan to do as Supreme Leader’ and ‘how will we find the rebels before they infect more worlds with disorder.’”  
Ren waved a hand. “Don’t worry about that. The girl can’t hide from me. Snoke started a bond between us using the force. I thought it was all done by him, through only his power, but if I can reach someone as force-weak as _you_ then surely I can reach her. Distance is meaningless through the force. I _will_ find her, and she will lead me to the others.”  
Hux pointed at Ren as if to punctuate his words. “I swear if you call me _weak_ one more time I will show you—“  
“Come here.” Ren patted the sofa. Hux shook his head.  
“Ren—“  
“I know you’re not weak. Snoke belittled you in my eyes for a reason of his own. I only meant that your force sensitivity is marginal. Perhaps with training we can make more use of it. Come closer.” Ren sat forward. “Please. This changes everything.”


	2. Chapter 2

Over the next standard day, everything changed very little that a casual observer might notice. Talking in the officers’ cantina after a careful look around to make sure the General’s lackey, Opan, was not within earshot, Peavey still expressed his opinion that it would not be too long before the General and the new Supreme Leader settled their differences finally and to Hux’s permanent disadvantage. It would take another couple of drinks and a quick check that his companions all remembered the Empire before he’d dare to regret the passing of “Old Brendol” and suggest alternative commanders for The Finalizer from among their number. But only his mirror heard him mutter about how different things would be with _General Peavey_ in full command, how convenient it would be to have a battle-ready bunk-room next to the bridge and how distinguished he’d look in a greatcoat.

Peavey made sure that the traditional search for the Millennium Falcon (as the Supreme Leader had apparently informed General Hux the “heap of junk” was named) proceeded exactly according to Hux’s instructions. Intelligence reports of possible sightings, rumours overheard in planetside cantinas, and downright fabrications from bounty hunters hoping for a share of some as yet unspecified reward came in by the hour and Hux’s specialist team sifted through all reports with diligence. While they cross-referenced data, looked for any clues linked with known rebellion activity, and regularly presented the most likely locations to their captain, Hux had not yet returned from his abrupt summons by the new Supreme Leader. Captain Peavey stood on the walkway between the data pits and supervised whilst studying the hulking form of The Supremacy out of the viewport. He wondered for one hopeful second if Hux had met his fate and they could abandon this tedious waste of time. The rebellion had been reduced to a couple of dozen sentients and a souped-up freighter that looked as if it would shake itself apart before long. Kinder to let them limp off and die quietly.

_This changes everything._

At those words one standard day ago, Hux had slipped across and into the space on his sofa beside Kylo Ren and murmured back, “No it does not. You have still to prove your strength as a leader and I—”  
“You’ll be my right hand,” said Ren, gripping Hux’s wrist to emphasise the point. Hux shook Ren off and held his hand up.  
“It doesn’t match the left hand still rotting on the armrest of your throne,” he said. “It’s foul. Don’t tell me you’re keeping it like that twisted—“  
“NO!” Ren cut him off so abruptly that Hux felt like he’d been shoved. “No part of Snoke is worthy to share space with my grandfather’s relic! Vader was better than Snoke in every way.”  
“Think, Ren!” Hux leaned closer. “With your head, not your stupid force. You need to do something big. You have a damaged fleet and your flagship is almost broken in two. You have to recover from this. Show the First Order, and the entire galaxy, why you are the Sup—”  
“You will help me.” Ren also leaned in, lowering his voice to suit the scant distance between them. “You will.”  
“I am helping you!” insisted Hux. “At this very moment, my best team of—“  
Ren shook his head. “Not like that! With the power of the force. A gift that I will teach you to use.”  
Hux sighed and looked into Ren’s intense gaze. “Will this gift give me the power to finish a kriffing sentence?”

Ren wanted to begin training Hux immediately and Hux saw no reason to leave the comfort of his own sofa other than to follow Ren’s suggestion of removing his boots and tunic. He sat as directed, upright but comfortable, and closed his eyes. Ren’s voice, softer than he had ever heard, seemed to be in his ears and in his head at the same time and he felt unsettled by it until Ren laid the solid weight of one hand on his knee and murmured _relax, relax, relax._ After a minute, Ren spoke quietly. “Reach out with all your senses. What can you feel?”  
“Well, the ship is humming a little unevenly so I think the dorsal thrusters are misfiring and... what are you laughing at?” Hux opened his eyes and glared at Ren. “I assume you have an engineering team on it already?“  
Ren controlled his grin. “No, Hux. That’s not what I meant. Close your eyes again. Listen to the ship and then dismiss it. Tune it out, look deeper and tell me what you feel.”  
Hux sighed deeply, closing his eyes again and frowning in concentration. He could feel Ren so close beside him that he could not think of anything else. Ren filled his senses so that even the misfiring thrusters were no longer a distraction. When Ren spoke words that seemed meaningless, Hux let the sound carry him and allowed his mind to drift.

Warmth. Hux felt comfortable for the first time in days. His head, usually crammed with procedure and calculation of the checks and balances of his life, felt empty and his thoughts passed through unhurried. Sluggish, almost, like waking up late on a day with no purpose. He stretched and his hand slipped from under a familiar cover, through cool air to touch the cold surface of the low table beside his sofa. Eyes snapping open, Hux cursed and sat up too fast, vision greying and ears buzzing for a few seconds. Head down, eyes closed, he breathed in and out, slow and deep, swallowed and made his eyes open again. The Supreme Leader was watching him from across the room.

“Don’t be disheartened. I used to fall asleep too when I meditated.” Ren walked over and sat beside Hux. “At first. You’ll get the hang of it with practice.”  
Hux groaned. He rose, letting the blanket taken from his own bed crumple to the floor, and lurched to the small kitchen area to make tea and order food. “You should have woken me,” he said over the sounds of the hot water dispenser. “How long was I asleep?”  
“Oh, not long,” said Ren, hiding a smile. “Only about nine hours.”  
“NINE HOURS!” Hux walked over with his cup of tarine tea but did not sit. “I never sleep that long! I should check on Peavey before he declares me a deserter, steals my ship and attempts to lead the rest of the old imperials in a mutiny.”  
Ren laughed. “Oh? So you sense that the weaselly captain longs for your downfall?”  
“Well, yes,” said Hux. “It doesn’t take the force to read what is plain to see on his face. I’d’ve had Opan deal with him by now if he were less careful with his words. Tell me, what were you doing for nine hours? I assume you did not sit there and watch me sleep.”  
“I stayed here to meditate,” said Ren. “Are you sure it is just his face you are reading and not his intentions?”

Hux sipped his tea and did not answer. A day ago he would have scoffed and told Ren to rein in his delusions. Now he was less sure that his ability to read people was purely due to his skill in observing tiny flinches in facial expressions. After all, he thought, he could tell Ren’s state of mind even when the oaf had worn a mask. Ren got up when Hux’s breakfast arrived. He walked to the door but turned and came back two steps into the room. “You want to be alone to think,” he stated. “I understand. I will be in my throne room. Come to me there when you are ready to try again.” He opened his mouth and closed it again, as if he’d thought better of saying something at the last moment, and Hux felt a tiny frisson run along his spine and disturb his sleep-earned calm.  
“Well then,” replied Hux, deliberately snubbing Ren and giving half his attention to his food tray, the rest to the nine hours’ worth of unread reports on his datapad. “I will meet with you there when I have a moment to spare, Supreme Leader.”  
Perhaps it was his imagination, thought Hux as he drank more tea and ate a jogan fruit pastry, but as he left, Kylo Ren seemed to be a little put out.

 

Head up and cape fluttering behind him, Kylo Ren marched to his throne room with his stormtrooper guard scrambling to keep up. He looked at the throne with disgust and walked over to the oculus viewscope. Spinning the controls to shift and focus while peering through the giant lens at the scene beyond, the Supreme Leader examined his fleet. He hated to have to admit to himself that Hux was right. He’d inherited damage and would have to make good before he’d be accepted. A show that he was merely the most powerful force-user in the galaxy would not satisfy the force-blind fools who might challenge him. With a smirk, he wondered if he could reach them all from here and—

“Supreme Leader.”  
Ren turned. Hux stood at the end of the walkway that led to the dais where the throne sat vacant apart from the grisly reminder of its most recent occupant. Ren frowned at Hux, the memory of Hux’s rude rejection of a suggestion he had not quite made fresh in his mind.  
“Don’t you kneel before your Supreme Leader any more?”  
Hux walked across to Ren. “Surveying your fleet, I see. Do you have any orders?” Ren returned his gaze to the star destroyers and called up a schematic of The Supremacy, but did not speak. Hux explained his disrespectful behaviour. “Snoke used to force me to my knees if I did not kneel quickly enough for him. I would have killed him for that if I was able, but I learned early in life not to engage in a fight if I stand no chance of winning.”  
“So,” said Ren, staring at nothing through the oculus. “You think you would win a fight with me?”  
“Not if you were conscious,” replied Hux, “but I think you are not so petty as to force subordination, so to speak, in private. Do you have any orders? For example: _coordinate repairs to the fleet and call a meeting of the High Command to announce the promotion of Grand Marshal Hux?”_  
Ren turned and scowled at Hux. “Do not presume to anticipate my orders and do not dare to think yourself my equal. I am your Supreme Leader and I am your master.”  
“Yes, Supreme Leader,” said Hux, words dripping sarcasm that Ren ignored.  
“I do not wish to address High Command.”  
“Very well,” said Hux. “Should I remain here or get back to my reports...” Hux paused, feeling for Ren’s mood but Ren was distant and hadn’t risen much to deliberate provocation. It was worth a gamble. “...Master?”  
Ren turned to face Hux, smiling. “So you accept me as your teacher?”

Hux felt the shiver travel up and down his spine again and tingle almost pleasurably in his brain, pushing out the sting of the rebuffed request for promotion. He nodded once. Ren beckoned him closer. Hux stood beside Ren at the oculus. Ren’s gloved hand found Hux’s and he held on, and Hux felt Ren’s half-second of uncertainty before it was hidden again. Hux took a deep breath.  
“Supreme Leader, if you delegate the day to day running of the fleet repairs to me, you will free up time for your own search for the scavenger girl.”  
“No.” Ren’s tone was final and Hux knew there would be no point arguing the issue at that moment. Ren pulled Hux closer to the oculus. “Any fool can do that. Give it to the commanding officer of one of the damaged star destroyers. Learning how to use the force to assist me is your most important duty. Look out there... can you see The Finalizer?”  
Hux nodded, reeling off in order the names of the star destroyers attendant on The Supremacy. Ren put Hux’s hands on the controls and stood close behind him, his large hands covering Hux’s slender ones. “Look closer.”  
“Supreme Leader I—“  
“Kylo.” Ren lifted his hands and removed his gloves. “When I am teaching you, you will call me Kylo.” While speaking, he lifted Hux’s wrists one at a time and pulled at the fingers of his gloves too, dropping them on the floor beside his own. He returned Hux’s hands to the controls, holding them in place with gentle pressure. Hux, reeling equally from the cold of the controls and the heat from Ren’s palms, fixed his gaze on the familiar wedge of The Finalizer.

After a few long seconds, Ren spoke softly, lips almost brushing Hux’s ear and making the hair on his neck prickle.  
“Tell me what you feel, Armitage.”  
A brief glimmer of amusement lit up Hux’s mind as he considered the response _”slightly aroused,”_ but embarrassment took hold quickly. One rejection was enough for now. He took a deep breath, watched the silent, still shape of The Finalizer and shook his head.  
“Nothing. Should I—”  
“Hush. Try again.” Ren’s voice sent shivers down Hux’s back. “Concentrate. Think of all those people on board. Try to reach someone you already have a close connection with.”  
Hux’s embarrassment flared. “I am their commanding officer! I do not permit myself any kind of _close connection_ with my subordinates. It is bad for morale.”  
“Yes you do,” said Ren with a hint of laughter. “Your Supreme Leader forgives you for fucking your favourite lieutenants. It is noticeably good for _your_ morale.”  
“Are you...” Hux tried to turn to face Ren but the Supreme Leader blocked the move simply by standing immovably still. All Hux could do was crane his neck and rotate his upper body a fraction to try to look at Ren over his shoulder. “Are you telling me you knew?”  
“Every time.” Ren laughed. “So did Snoke but he found it uninteresting.”  
“Stars!” Hux faced forwards again and blinked at the oculus. The information that Ren found his sex life interesting was something he could mull over in private, if he had such a thing as privacy with Ren around. “Well then,” he said after a minute of mental turmoil. “Shame we lost Dopheld on Starkiller. I don’t feel the same connection with Tritt.”  
“Try a different kind of connection then,” suggested Ren. “Who do you work closely with who prompts any kind of emotional response?”  
“Ah. I know.” Hux nodded and the pressure of Ren’s hands on his increased a little. He focused on The Finalizer’s image, brought it up closer and more sharply into focus at the centre of the giant lens and let Kylo Ren’s softly murmured guidance take over.

With Ren’s help, Hux centred his thoughts on Captain Edrison Peavey. So gradually that the change was barely noticeable, Hux felt rather than saw the bridge of The Finalizer through Peavey’s eyes. The shock of his success jolted Hux back into his own head and he leapt away from the oculus so abruptly that he pushed Ren backwards.  
“Was that...“ Hux stared at Ren. “Did I...”  
“You did it!” Ren sounded pleased. “Now, quickly, before it fades and you forget. What did you sense from the weasel?”  
Hux closed his eyes and thought back to his brief glimpse of Peavey’s mind. “He thinks I’m incompetent. He believes I got promoted only because of my father. I knew all that!”  
“Perhaps if you were to see his image, interact with him personally, you would see more,” suggested Ren. “Comm him, but focus on what he is _not_ saying.”  
Hux walked over to the Supreme Leader’s comm unit and grinned at the controls. “I always wanted to use his bridge holo projector,” he said. “Keep the crew on their toes.”  
Ren shook his head. “Careful, Armitage. Whose throne room is this?”  
Hux glanced sideways at the arm rest of the throne and pulled a face. “Yours, master. Or are you Supreme Leader again, now?”  
“Both. Go on, do it.”

Hux operated the commands that would project his image into the bridge of the Finalizer. After a delay that bordered on disrespect, Peavey’s image flickered into view. Hux nodded acknowledgment of the captain’s salute. “Report on the status of the search.”  
Peavey spoke and Hux tuned out the words, trying to regain a glimpse into Peavey’s feelings. When Peavey’s supercilious speech ended, Hux gave him a nod and cut him off. As soon as Peavey’s image vanished, Hux glared at Ren. “He undermines me privately at every opportunity.”  
Ren nodded. “I have seen as much. He thinks—“  
“The deluded fool thinks he could take my place!” spluttered Hux, fury building. “How dare he! I should have Opan deal with him but I would like the satisfaction of seeing his lights go out myself.”  
“You should do that,” said Ren, holding Hux’s glare. “Send the other imperials a message that you have the Supreme Leader’s favour and you are not to be touched.”  
“I will return to The Finalizer.” Hux sighed and scowled at his hands, and Ren felt his resolve waver. “But—“  
“But nothing! He’s in your way. Deal with him.” Ren held out his hand, fingers gripping empty air, and Hux felt his throat tighten for a second. Ren sneered at the alarm on Hux’s face. “Permanently.”  
Hux shook his head as the pressure released. He coughed. “Not yet. Peavey is a plodder who misses the old days, that’s all. He has not undermined me in front of anyone who matters and he is a competent officer. We have lost too many competent officers recently.”  
Ren grimaced and pointed a finger in Hux’s chest. “I am sorry for the loss of Phasma and... your lieutenant. But to let this go unpunished is a mistake. Are you really so weak that you would—“

The rest of Ren’s sentence was lost to the roar that came from Hux at the reminder of his personal losses and the old, familiar insult that should have died with Brendol. Hux launched himself at Ren and grappled with him, tripping him and tumbling them both to the floor. Hux flipped himself up and landed heavily across Ren’s stomach, knees straddling his body and hands pressing at his neck. Ren fought back enough to stop Hux from actually hurting him until he felt Hux’s flash of anger abate, to be replaced with growing fatigue. When Hux stilled and tried to push himself up, Ren rolled them both over and trapped Hux under him with his full weight, wrists above his head, faces inches apart.  
“Do not do that again, Armitage,” said Ren, quietly menacing. “You will never beat me. I am your master and you will treat me with respect.”  
“Don’t _ever_ call me weak again.” Hux struggled and Ren jerked his own head back to prevent Hux’s forehead from delivering a blow to his nose. Ren gripped both of Hux’s wrists in one hand and laid his freed hand over Hux’s mouth.  
“So you have a temper and you are willing to snap.” Ren said. “I thought for a moment that you might be the cur Snoke said you were, rolling over at every kick, downtrodden, no fight left in you. I am relieved to find that I am wrong. Now, return to The Finalizer and deal with the weasel and his weaselly cronies before their private challenge to _our_ authority becomes a problem.”  
Hux let his body go limp. Ren moved his hand from over Hux’s mouth, patted his cheek and, without any warning, dipped down to kiss him. Hux chased Ren’s lips with his own when the brief kiss ended then rolled Ren off and stood up, face blooming pink from more than just the exertion of their fight. He would not raise his eyes to look at Ren, although he could feel Ren’s scrutiny.  
“Yes, Supreme Leader.”  
“Armitage?” Ren waited for Hux to turn halfway towards him. “When you have dealt with this dissent, come back to me and bring me a gift. Something I want.” Hux looked up at last, frowning. Ren kept his thoughts and his smile hidden inside. “From you, an apology in words is meaningless.”

Hux nodded once and sucked his lower lip, nervousness surfacing at this new turn his relationship with the Supreme Leader might be taking. Ren seemed to be waiting for something.  
“Kylo,” said Hux, as if trying out informality for the very first time. “I will deal with this. If... if you are pleased with whatever gift I bring, will you teach me how to...” Hux held out his hand, fingers like pincers, and Ren laughed.  
“Perhaps, when you are ready for it. First you have to find me my scavenger.”


	3. Chapter 3

Hux closed his eyes and breathed the way Ren had shown him. The Supremacy was ablaze with activity and Hux could feel around the edges of it, sense the heaving mass of sentience that pervaded the megastructure and the dark, deep cleft of nothing where only repair droids ventured. As he drifted into his meditation, Hux reflected that he’d done the right thing, he was sure, by threatening Peavey privately with execution should any rumours of his mutinous thoughts surface then assigning him the task of performing a full ship inventory. Peavey would be buried in busywork for at least three standard days.

Banishing the troublesome captain from his thoughts, Hux concentrated on The Supremacy. He had not returned to Kylo with a gift yet: his search for sightings of the Millennium Falcon and information about the scavenger girl had yet to turn up any solid information. He’d sent out a few more undercover expeditions with probe droids to investigate the most plausible locations but they would not report back for at least another standard day. In short, Hux was not in a position to give the Supreme Leader what he most wanted.

_Focus! You are allowing yourself to become distracted._

Ren’s voice whispered through Hux’s head and Hux shook it away, irritated by the interruption mostly because Ren was correct. Hux shifted in his seat and tried again, starting from the beginning of the first breathing exercise Ren had taught him. He needed something to focus on. For his first deliberate success, he’d used the oculus to focus, literally, on The Finalizer. Wondering if perhaps an object he owned and that Ren had used would do, Hux got up and walked around his chambers. He was supposed to be meditating, finding Kylo Ren’s mind in the mêlée that constituted normal life on The Supremacy. He needed something that made him think of Kylo Ren. Eyes settling on something, Hux smiled. He sat, but not in his usual position. He settled on the chair that faced his sofa and imagined Kylo Ren sitting opposite him, shirtless and smirking.

Eyes closed. Breathe in slowly and out again. Focus. Listen to the ship and dismiss it as an irrelevance. Feel for the dulled minds and ordered lives of the stormtroopers and dismiss them too. Find the spark of something different, something uniquely Kylo Ren.

He found it after an hour or so of stopping and starting over, just as he was about to give up and comm Ren to say he was too unsettled to concentrate. Somewhere on The Supremacy, Kylo Ren ignited his lightsaber and Hux felt it buzz in his hand. He meditated with the sensation as his new focus until he was sure he’d found Ren, then opened his eyes.  
“You’re in your hangar.”  
“Yes,” Ren’s voice entered his head. “I like to train here. Have you found a gift for me yet?”  
“Maybe in a few hours one of the surveillance probe droids will send back hard evidence but until then—“  
“Think of something else I might want. I am conducting my own search for the girl. You won’t find her by your usual means, but she exists in the force and so do I. The instant she bends the force to her will, I’ll detect it if her presence is strong enough.”  
Hux frowned even though Ren would not see it. “I sense you’re concealing something.”  
“Yes,” said Ren. “It is not something to concern yourself with now. Rest for one hour then try to find me again.”

Ren’s presence vanished like a fire going out and Hux rubbed his arms with his hands to warm himself. He stood and experienced the greyed vision and ringing ears he was learning to associate with deep meditation. When it passed, he checked his comlink for messages from his team on The Finalizer then used the sonic in his ‘fresher. In its warmth, Hux let his mind wander to what Ren might want of him other than the location of the scavenger girl. He allowed himself a fantasy first, one in which he captured the girl, blasted the last rebel base from the surface of some filthy backwater moon and brought her to Kylo, gift-wrapped in magnabinders. Perhaps if he succeeded despite Ren’s insistence that he would not, Ren would let him watch as the girl was executed.

Hux passed the remainder of his rest hour dozing on his bed. Sleep eluded him although he was exhausted by the mental effort of Ren’s exercises in meditation. It seemed like every time he neared sleep, a bad dream catapulted him into fretful consciousness. The dream was always a variation of the same thing: he was abandoned on a smooth, black, ash-strewn rock with sluggish rivers of red hot lava on either side, magma welling and spewing from vents in the ground. On some far shore, Ren waved to him and pointed at a fortress made of the same black stone as supported him above the burning flow. In the dream, Hux yelled at Ren to save him but Ren made no move to lift him to safety with the force, and he knew his death was certain. On jerking awake at the dream sensation of his feet disappearing into thick, searing molten rock as the current slowly rose and engulfed his precarious perch, Hux wondered if it was his own scream that had woken him.

Neither sleep nor meditation were possible after that. Hux made tea and passed some time reading reports and checking with Opan that Peavey was making a thorough job of his inventory. Satisfied that The Finalizer was running smoothly in his absence and soothed by Opan’s smile over the holo-projector, Hux turned his thoughts to his bad dream. There had been something familiar about it, something his mind could not quite fix onto. He had never been anywhere with even a passing resemblance to the desolation of the rugged black stone fortress surrounded by lava, yet familiarity tugged at the edges of his mind. He moved to the data terminal set into his desk and tapped a few commands. Planet profiles flickered and were dismissed by the search algorithm until only three remained. Of the three, only one planet fit the fading memory of his dream. He read the brief file on the small Outer Rim planet with astonishment.

_Mustafar: Volcanic. Mineral rich. Source of obsidian. Reputed to have been stronghold of significant historical figures of the Empire. FO classification: insignificant._

Hux stared at the few words the First Order thought sufficient to describe the planet. Black, smooth stone, glass-like igneous rock, built up into a fortress. Black, smooth, glassy surfaces of the vast room where Snoke’s hand still clung to the throne. Hux got up, threw on his greatcoat and marched out.

The throne room was empty save for a few of Ren’s stormtrooper guards, two for each entrance. They saluted as Hux passed and ignored him once he was beyond the limit of their orders. Hux stood in front of the throne for a moment, glaring with distaste at the yellowing claw-like partial limb that rested on the arm. It was beginning to lose some of its shape, the papery skin loose and slipping to reveal brown, oxidised blood and muscle and shrinking yellow-white tendons below. Hux gagged at the thought of what he had come to do. He considered ordering one of the stormtroopers to do it for him, but then the gift would not truly be from him, and Kylo would know. Still watching the hand as if it might come alive and reach for his throat with scrabbling fingers that had too many joints, Hux unsheathed the knife he kept in his sleeve with a deft flick. He held the decaying wrist down with one hand, feeling the bones shift and grind in his grip, and sliced through Snoke’s forefinger with the blade. The obsidian ring slipped easily from the stump and Hux held it tight in his fist. The rest of Snoke’s hand and forearm he knocked to the floor. He called the nearest stormtrooper.  
“You, there!”  
“Sir?”  
“See that this mess is cleaned up and the throne thoroughly disinfected. Give me your blaster.”  
“Yes, sir!”  
Hux took the blaster rifle, adjusted its power setting and took aim at the remains of Snoke’s limb. He fired continuously until nothing remained but a pile of smoking ash.

As Hux left, the Stormtroopers were already at work. He returned to his chambers to clean his blade, scrub and disinfect the ring, and throw his gloves into the incinerator chute. Staring at the ring lying on the table in front of him, Hux took a deep breath in and counted slowly as he breathed out. Within minutes, his eyes slipped closed and he felt Ren’s presence nearby. Once he was sure, Hux spoke aloud.  
“I got you a gift.”  
“Hah!” Ren exuded glee. “Come and give it to me. Now.”  
Hux laughed once. “But I don’t know exactly where you are yet!”  
“That’s because I am moving. Can’t you see where I’m going? Meet me there.”  
Hux saw flashes of Ren’s changing location and grinned when he recognised the route. He opened his eyes, scooped the ring into his pocket and left his chambers.

Ren got there first. When Hux entered the throne room, the stormtroopers had been dismissed and only Ren stood by the fully-vacant throne. Hux walked across the short bridge that connected the turbo-lift with the main chamber and paused. Ren smiled encouragement. Hux walked forwards a few more steps to the base of the dais that held the throne. He knelt and bowed his head.  
“Supreme Leader, I brought you a gift.”  
“Approach,” said Kylo Ren.  
Hux stood, took the ring from his pocket and climbed the steps to the throne. He knelt again and held up the ring. Ren held his hand out and Hux pushed the ring onto his forefinger. Ren touched Hux’s hair then sat on the throne.  
“Armitage Hux.” Ren smiled and touched Hux’s hair. “You surprised me today. I was meditating using my grandfather’s mask, and now you present me with the ring set with obsidian taken from the darkness beneath his castle on Mustafar.”  
Hux kept his head down lest his expression betray him, but Ren was preoccupied with the stone set in its heavy metal band.  
“Snoke did not deserve to wear this,” he said, eventually. “Get up, Armitage.” Hux stood and so did Ren. Ren stepped closer and Hux held his ground. Ren leaned in and murmured, “Thank you for this. You can’t possibly understand how much...”  
Ren’s voice trailed off as Hux’s hand stroked his face. Hux smiled. “Perhaps I understand more than you give me credit for, Kylo.”

Ren was silent for a few seconds. “Tonight,” he said, turning his head to kiss Hux’s palm. “Tonight I want us to meditate together. Come to my chambers—”  
“My suite is more comfortable,” said Hux, stroking Ren’s cheek again. “If that is what you want.”  
Ren smiled and slipped his hands into Hux’s hair, cradled his head and kissed him gently. Hux pulled Ren closer, caught Ren’s lower lip between his own and ran the point of his tongue along its edge. Ren let out a quiet _hmm_ and pulled back.  
“Armitage, this is—“  
“A bad idea?” Hux shrugged. “Not what you want right now? A one time fling? A step on the ladder?” He shrugged again. “Kylo, I have heard all of the excuses and rejections before. Not from you, yet, but... I think I am right that you want me as more than your pupil or your _right hand._ Look at me and tell me if I am wrong. I will know if you lie.” Hux watched Ren’s silent, unmoving face. “Well then,” Hux said brightly. “We will meditate together tonight in your chambers and we need not speak of this again.”

Hux turned to leave before his emotions overran his good sense. Ren caught up with him at the turbo-lift door and barged him inside. Ren loomed closer to Hux, pushed him against the wall of the lift and kissed him hard. Hux pushed back, hands finding Ren’s hair, gripping and pulling. Ren groaned and laughed.  
“Armitage.”  
“Kylo.”  
“Can you imagine what Snoke would have done if we...” Ren’s words ended with a head shake.  
Hux smirked. “Can you imagine what _we_ could have done if we...”  
“Stars!” Ren rested his forehead on Hux’s. “I wish I could get him out of my head.”  
Hux stifled his shock at this momentary crack in Ren’s armour. “Perhaps meditation will help,” he said, feeling the turbo-lift’s smooth deceleration.  
“Meditation,” echoed Ren. “Yes. And sleep without dreams. We will use your chambers.”  
The turbo-lift door opened and two officers stood aside, saluting as Supreme Leader Ren and General Hux strode purposefully past.

As soon as the door of Hux’s suite closed and locked behind them, Hux took Ren’s hand. For the third time, he experienced a glimpse of uncertainty in Ren before it was hidden. Ren pointed at the sofa. “That is where you prefer to sit. Get comfortable.” He loosened his collar, pulled Hux’s chair into position at right angles to the sofa, and dropped into it. Hux took off his tunic and boots and sat back on the sofa, looking at Ren.  
“Close your eyes,” said Ren, closing his own and reaching for Hux’s hand. “Breathe.”  
Hux followed Ren’s lead, loosely clasping their fingers together and dropping their hands to the arm of the sofa. He closed his eyes and took a long breath in, releasing it to an internal count back from ten. He used the warmth of Ren’s hand as a focus and tried to let everything else slip from his mind, but there was something troubling Ren and Hux felt it like atmospheric turbulence buffeting his shuttle coming in to land at the end of a smooth space journey. Ren sighed, shook off Hux’s hand and got up.

“I can’t concentrate,” said Ren, pacing the room. “Your mind is in turmoil.”  
“I thought that was you!” retorted Hux, genuinely indignant at Ren’s apportioning of blame.  
Ren sighed. “We should rest then try again,” he said. “Once we are more settled.”  
“As you wish.” Hux got up. “I’m going to relax in the sanisteam. Perhaps you should try that too.”

Hux picked up his tunic and boots and went to undress in his bedroom. When he emerged wearing his robe, Ren was already in the ‘fresher, looking at the sanisteam controls.  
“Do you want to go first?” asked Hux, trying to keep his face bland.  
“I thought...” Ren paused and glanced at Hux then at his own hand on the control panel, “...maybe we could relax together.”  
“Ah!” Hux allowed a smile to light his face. “Well then. You had better undress.” He waved a hand up and down to indicate Ren’s apparel. “Unless you want me to...?”  
Ren raised an eyebrow at Hux. Hux responded by unclipping Ren’s belt, rolling it and placing it neatly on the shelf of his clothes rack. Ren inclined his head, allowing Hux to reach the collar fastening of his tunic, already loosened, and Hux peeled the garment off him then hung it from the rail. Ren’s boots were next, and by the time Hux had pulled off both and placed them neatly aside, Ren was already out of the rest of his clothing. Hux traced the shapes of Ren’s scars with one finger, then set the sanisteam programme and pulled Ren into the enclosure. Once soaked by the jets, Hux sniggered at Ren and said, “How about I kneel before you now, Supreme Leader?”

Ren laughed and Hux pushed him back until his shoulders and ass bumped on the cool, tiled wall, then sank to his knees. Ren stroked Hux’s head and closed his eyes, losing himself in the sensation of Hux’s lips and tongue teasing at his balls then kissing sloppily along the length of his hardening shaft. Hux’s lips closed around the head of Ren’s cock and his tongue flicked and fluttered across it. Ren’s hand clenched into a fist and held Hux firmly by the hair. Hux stopped, Ren’s cock still on his tongue, lips soft. He swivelled his eyes up to see Ren looking down at him.  
“Mmmmmh?”  
Ren moaned at the sensation of the vibration from Hux’s mouth. He released his grip and smoothed Hux’s hair down again, keeping his hand flat and relaxed this time.  
“I didn’t expect it to feel—“  
“Hmmhmmhmmhmmm.”  
“Kriff! Are you laughing at me? Because— Aaah!”  
“Hmmmmmmm.”  
Hux had as much of Ren’s cock in his mouth as would comfortably fit and he wrapped his hand around the base. He pressed his tongue up under it and tightened his lips over his teeth just a little as he rocked his head back and forwards slowly. Ren’s head lolled to the side, his eyes closed and his mouth dropped open. Ren’s hand moved from the top of Hux’s head to his temple and Hux felt a tingle along his own erect cock. He brought his other hand, slick with gel, up under Ren’s balls and stroked the wrinkled skin, tracing the thick seam backwards to his entrance and playing over the puckered ring of muscle.  
“Kriff! I’m gonna—“  
Ren’s warning was too late. At the moment he tipped over into his orgasm, breathing hard and clutching at Hux’s head, Hux felt his own climax build beyond his control. As Ren spilled into Hux’s mouth, Hux came over the floor of the sanisteam enclosure without touching himself.

Hux rinsed his mouth and stood up. Ren watched him.  
“Has it been a while, Kylo?” asked Hux. “Don’t answer. I shouldn’t pry because it doesn’t matter. Only I can usually make it last longer than that.”  
“You’ve done this a lot?” Ren scowled. Hux felt the edges of his contained anger. “On your knees for a promotion! I see it now. I see you debasing yourself for advancement. Just how many di—“  
“Who cares!” Hux glared back at Ren. “Some. I wasn’t counting. And I _enjoyed_ it. Are you judging me because I serviced a few dicks and cunts to ingratiate myself and get ahead?”  
“Is THAT what you’re doing here?” Ren slammed his fist against the wall, cracking three tiles. “Earning your next promotion?”  
“NO!” Hux spat the word. He pointed at his head. “Look for yourself if you won’t believe me. I offered because...”  
Ren was already in his head. Hux closed his eyes and tried not to fight as memories were dragged up from where he’d buried them and riffled through. He felt contempt all over again for some of the puffed-up, easily flattered senior officers he’d pleasured to win favour, and mild affection for others. Kylo Ren was not in either category and when Ren released his mind, he clasped Hux tightly to his chest and murmured soft words in his head.  
_sorry about the tiles_  
“Is that all you’re apologising for?”  
_sorry I made you come too when I did... we were linked and I couldn’t stop it_  
“That was unexpected but not unpleasant although I’m not sure I’m comfortable with knowing how a blow job from myself feels. Anything else?”  
Ren snorted with laughter but controlled it.  
_I regret that I... doubted your intentions_  
“Well then. I suppose that’s the best I’m going to get. Do you want to get out of here and try again?” Hux spluttered a laugh at Ren’s surprised expression. “I meant meditation, you kriffing idiot!”  
Ren smiled and nodded. “We should get you comfortable. It could be a long one. I’m used to sitting up but you are not.”  
“Bedroom?” suggested Hux, swapping his robe for a clean sleep suit and handing one to Ren. Ren put on the shorts and nodded.  
“Don’t fall asleep this time.”

Hux lay on his back on top of the covers and Ren lay close beside him. Ren’s hand felt warm and heavy on Hux’s thigh and he focused on its solid weight as he breathed in time with Ren. There was still something unsettled between them, a barrier of sorts, and Hux sighed. He turned onto his side and saw Ren’s eyes glint in the low light.  
“What’s going wrong? Is it me?”  
“No,” admitted Ren. “It’s me this time. I can’t get something out of my head.”  
Hux looked Ren up and down and took a guess. “Do you want to make love?”  
“Make love!” Ren giggled. “Who in the galaxy calls it that?”  
“Shut up. I’m trying to be polite.” Hux shrugged. “Fine. Want to fuck? That better?”  
Laughter under control, Ren grinned. “Yes.”  
“What, you’d rather I said _fuck_ or you want to make love?”  
“Both?”  
“Well then,” said Hux. “Tell me what you like.”

Ren rolled onto his side away from Hux. “Promise not to laugh.”  
“Just tell me,” said Hux. “I won’t laugh. I’ve probably heard everything.”  
“Uh, probably not this. Apart from just now, the last sexual encounter I had was with a fellow padawan. We learned how to connect with each other through the force and we’d... we’d lie in our own beds in our own huts and one of us would... touch themselves and the other would feel it and get off on it.”  
“So... you want to do that?” Hux frowned at the back of Ren’s head.  
“Kriff, no!” Ren said with a laugh. “I’m telling you that I’ve not had the opportunity to find out what I like.” He paused and lifted his head to look round at Hux. “I like your mouth.”  
“Ah!” Hux wrapped his arm around Ren’s waist and moved up close behind him. “I suppose we are going to have to find out what else you like for ourselves.”

Hux took over. He eased Ren’s shorts down and off and soon they lay naked, Hux spooning Ren and stroking his skin gently. When Hux felt Ren relax, he kissed each protrusion of his spine and paused at his coccyx. Ren sniggered.  
“You’re not actually going to _fuck me that’s good!”_  
Hux pushed Ren further over onto his front and massaged his ass, parting his cheeks gently and circling his pointed tongue around Ren’s entrance while Ren groaned out a stream of ever more inventive curse words. Hux laughed and the air he huffed over Ren’s wet hole made him moan and curse more. Hux ordered Ren up onto his knees, head down and thighs apart, leaned down and licked from Ren’s balls to his hole then wriggled his tongue into the twitching pucker of muscle. A delicious tingle in his own ass made Hux stop and he slapped Ren’s backside.  
“Try to stay inside your own head,” he said. “I do not want the sensation of rimming myself.”  
“You should,” retorted Ren. “It’s fucking _glorious.”_  
Hux smiled at the compliment and reached over Ren for the lube he kept in his cabinet. “This will be cold,” he warned, sinking down behind Ren again. “But I’ll warm you up a little more first.”

Ren’s cursing slipped into incoherence as Hux resumed sucking and licking at his hole. After another minute or two, Hux slipped a fingertip in beside his tongue and moved his head back, sitting up higher and flipping the cap of the lube bottle.  
Ren took a deep breath and said, “I want to touch myself while you do that.”  
“No,” replied Hux. “Wait. I promise it’ll be better if you’re patient.”  
Hux dribbled lube over Ren’s hole and his fingers and worked it until his forefinger slipped in and out easily. Ren let out a moan and sank his head lower, pushing his hips back. Hux laughed.  
“You like that?”  
“Fuck, yes. Touch me there again.”  
Hux pushed his finger in again and rubbed over Ren’s prostate, smiling at the way Ren’s hands fisted into the pillows. He added his middle finger too, twisting slowly, and Ren let out a groan.  
“Fuck, that feels... Fuck!”  
“Want me to stop?”  
“No!”

Hux leaned down and kissed Ren’s back. He worked slowly until Ren was pushing back on three fingers, dripping lube and begging to be allowed to bring himself off. Hux told him again to be patient, then withdrew his fingers and rolled on a condom.  
“Hux!”  
“Put your pillow under your hips.”  
Ren complied. Hux lubed his cock and pushed against Ren’s stretched hole until the head slipped inside. He leaned more weight on Ren, pushing his cock in deeper and pushing Ren down onto the bed. He kissed Ren’s shoulder as they settled.  
“You like this?”  
“Don’t know yet. Is this good for you?”  
Hux snorted. “I am balls deep in the most powerful being in the galaxy. Honestly? Couldn’t be better.”  
Ren laughed and Hux felt him relax more. He began with slow, shallow thrusts, adjusting his position until Ren cried out _yes!_ Hux supported himself on one elbow and slipped his free hand under Ren, feeling for his cock, clasping it so that every time he thrust into Ren’s tight heat, Ren thrust into his fist.

A few moderate thrusts later, Hux felt the stretch, the fullness and pleasurable pressure that sent sparks to his brain, as if he was on the receiving end. The sensation rapidly climbed towards orgasm, and Hux, aware of how this felt to Ren, adjusted his position and speed perfectly to what Ren craved, as if chasing both their climaxes at the same time. Ren came with a garbled yell, and Hux could not hold off any longer. He came with a few more thrusts then collapsed onto Ren’s back and closed his eyes. After a minute, Ren shifted his hips and Hux pulled back, but they made no move to clean up.

“I like that,” said Ren eventually. “That’s two things I like. Your mouth and your cock.”  
“What about my hand?” asked Hux.  
“Three things,” replied Ren. “What else have you got?”  
Hux laughed. “Have you not had enough yet?”  
“Mmm.” Ren turned and pulled Hux close. Hux laid his head on Ren’s shoulder and let his arm drape across Ren’s chest.  
“I like this part,” admitted Hux. “This is what’s missing from all those times I fucked up-rank.” He let his eyes close and his breathing slowed to match the rise and fall of Ren’s chest under his arm. His mind drifted. The Supremacy was so familiar now it was easily ignored. The Finalizer crew exuded content efficiency and even Peavey was not the open sore he might otherwise have been. Hux let his consciousness drift aimlessly, aware of Ren’s presence all around him. Perhaps this was what meditation was supposed to feel like, he thought, and he felt Ren’s amusement and slight rebuke for losing focus. Hux settled his mind again, concentrating on Ren’s still and solid form.

With a cry that ripped Hux out of his peaceful meditation and into a state of alarm, Ren sat up and grabbed Hux’s arm.  
“Get up!” he said. “Get the Finalizer ready. I know where she is.”


	4. Chapter 4

When Hux stepped off Ren’s upsilon-class shuttle from The Supremacy, he was already barking orders. The Supreme Leader, who had arrived in his TIE-Silencer moments earlier, had marched ahead of his guard to his suite without a word and was not to be disturbed by anyone other than the general himself. There was to be no loose talk regarding their course or speculation about their destination. While The Supremacy underwent extensive repairs, The Finalizer was at the disposal of the Supreme Leader and their covert mission was of utmost importance.

Captain Peavey was on the bridge for the handover of command. He and Hux exchanged curt salutes and Peavey marched out when Hux ordered him, in front of the whole bridge crew, to continue his inventory. Hux nodded a greeting to his personal team in the data pit.  
“I have received regular reports from Captains Peavey and Opan on your progress. Good work so far. Keep at it! You never know what _piddling little detail_ might turn out to be significant, perhaps the fulcrum about which all the evidence turns and clicks into place.” Hux smirked as his use of one of Peavey’s recent favourite phrases elicited a few soft sniggers. “You there, Petty Officer Paze?” A serious-faced, dark-haired young man nodded, snapped to attention and saluted. “Liaise with the forensic tech team on the recovered datachips from the resistance base in place of Captain Peavey. Opan informs me that you have proved your investigative skills to be more than competent. I assume you are up to the challenge?”  
The young officer said, “Yessirthankyousir,” saluted again, handed over his terminal to a colleague and left the bridge. Hux glanced over at Opan who was overseeing communications. Opan nodded.  
“Well then,” said Hux with a smile. “It is good to be back. Opan, command briefing in my office.”

Hux marched to the small office that separated the bridge from the quarters he used when The Finalizer was actively engaged in combat or military exercises. Opan followed and waited to be granted admittance. Hux released the door after a minute.  
“Come in, Captain. Close the door.”  
“Sir?” Opan saluted.  
“Well then, how has Edrison taken his punishment?” Hux pointed to the chair opposite his desk and Opan perched. “Has he got the message, do you think?”  
“Um. Not entirely, sir. He has been quieter, but not silent.” Opan looked up at Hux, who remained on his feet. “Unfortunately his ex-imperial gang encourage him somewhat and when he is in the senior officers’ cantina his mouth tends to run with the ale.”  
“I see.” Hux’s face was stony. “I may need your services.”  
“Yes, sir.”  
Hux sat and leaned across the desk. “Discreetly, of course.”  
“Of course, sir,” said Opan with a mock shocked expression that made Hux crack a smile. Opan returned the smile with a grin. “Are there any other discreet services you require, sir?”  
Hux sighed and shook his head. “I am afraid not. Now that I am at the beck and call of the Supreme Leader I will have no time for such frivolities. You do understand, don’t you, Tritt?”  
“Yes sir, of course.” Opan had the good manners to look disappointed. Hux huffed a laugh.  
“Tell me,” he said, voice low and head as close to Opan’s as the furniture allowed, “I promise that there will be no repercussions from whatever you choose to say, but I assume that as a promising officer with the general’s favour you have... others you could call on?”  
“Oh! No sir,” said Opan with an open smile and a shake of his head. “I thought that since I was to be at _your,_ um, beck and call, I should make myself unavailable. There is no one else at present.”  
Hux sat back, satisfied with Opan’s honesty. “Then you do understand. Good. Now, you have bridge command training, yes?”  
“Yes sir. Passed in the top ten percent.”  
“Excellent,” said Hux. “I have a strange feeling that I am going to have to replace Captain Peavey soon. Report to the purser at the end of your duty shift to collect your upgraded bunk-room details. You’ll need superior single officer accommodation on the command crew deck.”

Opan thanked Hux, stood, saluted and left. Hux sat back and thought about Kylo Ren. Finding him was somehow easier when he knew Ren’s location, although Ren assured him that it did not matter to the force. Ren was so deep in meditation that he did not acknowledge the brief boost to his power that Hux gave him as he slipped into meditation, and Hux assumed that he had not noticed. Deciding after a few minutes that it would be churlish to be irritated as if it was a deliberate snub, Hux came back to the limited realm of his own senses and returned to the bridge.

Hux looked across at the communications terminals. “Captain Opan?”  
Opan saluted. “Yes, General?”  
“You have the bridge. Summon me if our status changes.”  
“Yes, General!” Opan assigned a lieutenant to his communications position and strode along the walkway to the observation point, passing Hux halfway and smiling his gratitude. As Hux passed Opan, Captain Peavey entered the bridge and saluted.  
“General, I’ve completed the inventory you requested. My full report is on your desk.” Peavey spoke quietly when he added, “I expect it will keep you busy for a few hours.  
”Indeed,” replied Hux, meeting Peavey’s smirk with a casual lack of regard. “I will look forward to reading it in full. It is important to know exactly what we are carrying into battle with us. You must have worked day and night to get it completed so quickly. I especially look forward to comparing this inventory with the previous one.” Hux spoke to his com-link. “Kayfour, pick up Captain Peavey’s inventory report and double check three random storerooms as regulation demands.”  
If Peavey found this alarming, he did not let it show. His frown was directed at Captain Opan.  
“Are you sure putting Opan on bridge command is wise? We may be heading into battle and he’s inexperienced.”

The only sound on the bridge was the low hum of the electricals. It felt like all the air had risen out of reach and the crew’s breathing had been suspended with it. Hux stepped closer to Peavey, face twisted into a sneer. “Are you questioning my command, captain?”  
Peavey frowned. “No sir! Merely expressing my misgivings about giving command of a solitary star destroyer, cut off by distance from the strength of the rest of the fleet and unprepared for a major battle, to someone who’s, well. A bit green.”  
Opan caught Hux’s eye over Peavey’s shoulder and raised his eyebrows. A question. Hux ignored the gesture. He gave Peavey a smile worthy of an asyyyriak.  
“Do you doubt the ability of The Finalizer and her crew to defeat a handful of rebels in a poorly maintained freighter?” asked Hux. “I wonder that you have such little confidence in our well-trained and battle-experienced crew.”  
“May I remind you, sir,” said Peavey, not hearing or not heeding the warning tone in Hux’s voice. “One rebel pilot was enough to clear out the surface defences of The Fulminatrix and allow a rebel bomber to get through our defensive net. With disastrous consequences.”

Hux reddened visibly as Peavey reminded him of the pilot who had made him look foolish. He bit back fury and addressed Peavey in carefully enunciated words.  
“Whatever your mistaken misgivings tell you, you will follow orders from superior officers without question. My orders are that Opan is promoted to command and you are removed for your insubordination and treasonous loose talk. Take care that further _misgivings_ do not result in harsher treatment.”  
Peavey glared at Hux. “What kind of fool chases a dangerous enemy with a single ship?” he asked. “This would never have happened in your father’s day. The Empire—”  
“—failed, captain. The Empire failed, and unworthy officers like my father and you are tainted by your failure.”

Hux clenched and unclenched his fists. He knew that regulations demanded he order security to have Peavey held and interrogated, and that if he were to pull his blaster and execute Peavey on the spot he would not be challenged. Instead he channelled all of his rage into a gesture. Hux reached out with his left hand and focused on the sliver of Peavey’s throat visible above his collar. Hux concentrated on the structure of the throat and how easily it could be crushed, and closed his hand on empty air. Peavy watched him, bemused for a moment, then laughed.  
“You think you can call up the Supreme Leader’s power!” Peavey clapped his hands together and laughed louder. “You’re just Brendol’s weak, bastard—“

All pretence of attending to control panels and console readouts had been dropped. All eyes were on Hux and Peavey. Hux growled, a guttural, animalistic sound that made even Opan’s skin crawl, and shot his hand out again. He had to win this. He had to show that he had power of his own over the remnants of the imperial forces who showed such ingratitude to the First Order. He shut out the humming, clicking terminals and the slight buzz of the lights. He dismissed the murmuring that had started somewhere below him. He was aware of only this: a calm warmth in his head and the feeling of his hand crushing soft tissue and slippery cartilage, closing blood vessels and compressing tightened muscles. In front of him, the thump of a soft weight falling to a hard floor pulled him back to cold reality. Peavey lay motionless a few feet away and, for a couple of seconds while nobody moved, Hux wondered if Opan had surreptitiously knifed him, then the fogged vision and ringing ears descended.

Opan jerked to attention. He looked at Hux. Lightheaded and queasy, fighting the beginning of a pounding headache, Hux gripped the rail that bordered the walkway and nodded.  
“Security!” called Opan. He pointed to Peavey’s corpse. “Remove that obstruction from the bridge.”  
Two stormtroopers dragged Peavey out. Hux followed. “I will be in my chambers,” he murmured on his way past Opan, “See that word gets around and that his cronies are dealt with swiftly. Have him jettisoned with the rest of his trash when we drop out of hyperspace.”  
Opan’s look was enough acknowledgement of his discreet orders. Gradually, the tapping and shuffling and low voices that accompanied a busy bridge shift started up again. By the end of the day, Peavey’s name would be used as a warning, whispered amongst the other officers who took their downtime his own favourite cantina.

Hux only just made it to his ‘fresher before heaving up the contents of his stomach. He undressed and cleaned up then fell into bed. When he woke, it was because of the weight of Kylo Ren dropping onto the mattress beside him. Hux groaned and rubbed his face.  
“Does it always hurt this much afterwards?”  
Ren laid a warm hand on Hux’s forehead, and Hux pulled it down over his eyes too and held it there. Ren laughed.  
“When someone else takes over your mind like that, yes. It hurts and it leaves you exhausted. It will pass. Sit up.”  
Hux struggled to push himself upright. Ren handed him a glass of water.  
“Drink it slowly. All of it.”  
Hux got halfway down the glass before his brain caught up. He frowned at Ren. “When someone else takes over your mind, you said.”  
“Yes. I felt you checking on me...” said Ren as he slipped behind Hux, a leg either side of Hux’s hips, and cradled him. “When I was meditating. You let me use your little bit of force for a few minutes. It was...” Ren took the glass from Hux and set it on the cabinet, then pulled Hux back to lean on his chest. “...Nice. I was returning the favour.”  
“Favour?” Hux closed his eyes and let Ren stroke his forehead. “What did you do?”

Ren’s hands stilled for a few seconds then resumed their comforting circles across Hux’s forehead and temples. His voice murmured low in Hux’s ear, making the skin of his neck and back respond with goosebumps and shivers.  
“Couldn’t you tell?” asked Ren. “I felt what you felt. Anger and frustration. For an instant, pure and powerful hatred. I saw what you wanted and I made it happen.”  
Hux pulled Ren’s hands from his face. “You were in my head?”  
“When you wanted Peavey to die. You were too... you didn’t have enough power to do it by yourself. Peavey was goading you and you’re... not strong. I took over and closed the weasel’s throat for you.”  
Hux rolled out of Ren’s lap and stood beside the bed, waiting for the dizziness to pass.  
“It was you. You...” He walked to the door. “I thought I’d done it. I was so fucking _proud_ of my power. But it was you. I must have looked like a complete fool.”

Hux picked up his glass and walked out of the room. Ren stared after him, confused by the mixture of emotions that washed from Hux, getting simultaneous impressions that he should leave and that he should stay. Before he’d fully decided which feeling to follow, Ren heard a crash from the living room. He got up and peered through the door: Hux lay in the centre of the room with the glass smashed beside him. He let out a soft groan and Ren knelt by his side.  
“You’re still dizzy. Let me get you back to bed.”  
“I’m not so weak that I can’t do it myself,” snapped Hux, perspiration beading on his pale forehead as he tried to push himself off the floor.  
“I know, Armitage,” said Ren. “I want to help. Let me.”  
“I don’t need to be coddled.” Hux’s voice lowered and Ren sensed his sharp anger slip into dull exhaustion.  
“I know that too. Was it coddling when you rescued me from the forest?”  
“This is not the same at all,” said Hux. “Snoke ordered me to deliver you like cargo.”  
“I know,” replied Ren, smiling, “but you picked me up onto the repulsorlift yourself instead of ordering some strong-armed stormtrooper to do it. I was conscious enough to feel your concern, and Snoke certainly did not order you to care for my comfort. You want to sleep for another hour.”

As soon as Ren said it, Hux thought that sleep sounded like the best idea in the galaxy. Ren lifted him so gently that Hux concluded he’d used the force rather than his arms, and carried him back to bed. The last thing Hux heard as he let the heavy weight of fatigue drag him under was Ren’s voice in his head, saying, _”It doesn’t matter who killed Peavey as long as they all think it was you.”_  
He had to admit, Ren had a point.

The headache was gone when Hux woke again. He missed Ren’s looming presence but dismissed the thought rapidly in case Ren should detect it and decide that Hux could not suffer to be without him. It was _weak_ like his inability to kill Peavey, or his inability to use the force to manipulate physical objects like Ren could. He ordered a status report from Opan. Ren had supplied updated coordinates and, after a brief drop out of hyperspace to confirm calculations and jettison waste, they had another few hours of travel before reaching their new destination. It would be perfectly reasonable, thought Hux, to call on the Supreme Leader in case he wanted to discuss strategy for when they arrived and captured the rebels. No longer needing a physical object to guide his thoughts, he sat up and focused on Kylo Ren: the feel of his warm skin, the scent of his hair, the sound of his murmur in Hux’s ear. With barely any effort, Hux felt Ren’s presence, sensed the invitation in his voice before he heard the words, and smiled.  
_Come and meditate with me._

Ren’s suite was warm. Hux removed his greatcoat and hat immediately and unfastened the neck of his tunic. Ren appeared half-dressed, his hair damp and curling at the ends, skin pale and shiny over his scars.  
“Come and get comfortable,” he said to Hux before turning away and disappearing into the rooms beyond. Hux followed. There was little evidence of Ren’s hesitancy this time—he helped Hux out of his clothing, removed his own and pulled him to the bed.  
“We should agree on a strategy for when we find the rebels,” said Hux, lying next to Ren. “Do you want them cap—“  
“Later.” Ren rolled onto his side and propped himself up on one elbow. He leaned down and kissed Hux. “Relax first. I think you’ve forgiven me.”  
Hux smiled and traced the line of Ren’s scar from his eye to his chin and down his shoulder with one finger. “Opan reports that rumours are circulating and there is little mention of nostalgia from the ex-imperial officers in the cantinas.”

Ren smiled and kissed Hux again, stroking his hand over Hux’s chest and stomach. Hux responded by pushing his fingers into Ren’s hair and holding his head, prolonging their kiss. Ren allowed it, encouraged it even. Sensing that Ren was intent on pleasure, Hux released his head and pulled Ren on top of him.  
“Do you want to fuck me?” asked Hux, hooking his feet behind Ren’s calves and thrusting up against Ren’s erection. “I’d like that.”  
Ren laughed. “I had something else in mind,” he said, kissing Hux again then shuffling down, teasing with his teeth at Hux’s nipples as he passed. He looked up at Hux’s surprised expression and said, “Move up!”  
Hux pushed himself up the bed and lay with his back against Ren’s pillows. He watched and gave a long sigh as Ren mouthed along the shaft of his cock and sucked almost its entire length into his mouth. “Fuck, Ren,” said Hux, “if you’ve never done this before it’s a fucking tragedy.”  
Ren swivelled his eyes to look at Hux. He closed his lips around Hux’s cock and pulled his head back slowly, then pushed down again. He repeated a few times then let Hux’s cock slide out of his mouth. Hux groaned and Ren laughed.  
“I’m a fast learner,” he said. “Close your eyes. Let me do everything. Let me learn to use you. Every part of you.”  
“Well then,” said Hux, stroking Ren’s hair and cupping his jaw for a moment. “I suppose I can allow it.”

 

Hux existed on the verge of sleep, his head comfortably resting on Ren’s shoulder and Ren’s arm warm around his back. He was aware on some level that he had a ship to command and an assault on a rebel base to plan, but at this precise moment nothing mattered. He shifted slightly and sighed, musing on the possibility of some kind of future with Kylo Ren, commanding the entire fleet from the bridge of The Supremacy while Ren held court in his throne room. There were voices in his head. Kylo’s he knew well now, so soft and warm and sure of himself. The other he did not know: lighter, abrupt. He listened in a dream-like state, not certain if he was indeed asleep or merely conjuring up the voices and the faint presence of Ren’s interlocutor.

 _”Have you no sense of decency? I can see him too. Cover up or something. Use a blanket.”_  
“Why? I’m not ashamed. Why should you be?”  
_”Why can I see him? Can you see anyone near me?”_  
“The force has only shown me you. Come to me here. Things are different now. After you killed Snoke. Things changed.”  
_”Nothing’s changed. I saw you on Crait. I felt what you did. I felt Luke die.”_  
“I can still teach you. You know what he did to me. He was afraid of the dark. Fear leads to hate. I am not afraid and neither are you. Learn how to use it. Come to me!”  
_”I will not trust you, Kylo Ren! You come to me. Alone. Leave that monster behind. I know who he is and I can’t believe you would even touch him.”_  
“Snoke fooled us all. Snoke and Luke made us all monsters. Very well. I will come to you. Alone. Show me where.”

When Hux woke properly, Ren was already dressing. Ren shot an anxious look at Hux but Hux yawned and smiled in reply.  
“Worried that I will sleep through the assault?” asked Hux, sitting up and stretching.  
“Maybe,” said Ren with a laugh.  
“I had the strangest dream that I heard a conversation between you and someone else. Female or young. Perhaps both. She called me a monster,” Hux stood up and kissed Ren’s cheek. “You almost defended me. Blamed Snoke.”  
Ren held Hux close for a moment. “I’m sure it was nothing. Dreams are best forgotten. You wanted a strategy and I have one. I have the coordinates of the rebel base.” Hux raised his eyebrows at Ren, and Ren nodded. “It’s genuine. I will go in and retrieve the scavenger. Once I have her, then you are free to blast it into regolith from orbit.”


	5. Chapter 5

The stormtrooper’s words were unambiguous but Hux asked for her to repeat her report anyway.  
“Sir! The base is deserted. Looks like it was temporary and cleared out in a hurry maybe eight to twelve standard hours ago. There is no sign of the Supreme Leader. He took off in his shuttle and deactivated his tracker.”

Hux slammed his fist down onto the guard rail, making it clang and rattle along its full length. The TIE squardon sent out to scout the temperate equatorial belt of the dwarf planet for signs of habitation reported back the same findings. Hux stared out at the yellow-white sphere with the green-beige band around its middle. A survey from orbit showed that there was nothing of interest to the First Order on this cold rock too far from its star for human comfort. Close-up images returned from the TIE flyovers revealed native animals that roamed the flat plains of eroded craters in small herds, scraping algae from oozing ground with tongues that rasped audibly above the thin wind that ruffled their shaggy hides, green with the same algae as formed their diet. Hux wondered if this planetoid only held the two species.

_”Get down here.”_

Hux jerked fully upright, startled by the sudden appearance of Ren’s angry tone in his head. He turned to Opan and said, “I will be in my office.” Walking past, he added, “inform me immediately if anything changes.” Sheltered by a closed door, Hux sat and concentrated on the feel of Kylo Ren’s skin, warm against his cheek just a few hours previous. He took off his glove and pressed the back of his fingers to his lips in search of a few seconds of calm. He wondered if perhaps it would help Ren focus.  
“Have you found them?”  
_”No, but they were here. I feel it. Come.”_  
Ren sounded snappish. Hux snapped back. “That’s all well and good, Kylo, but what’s the point in me coming all that way to see nothing? Do you know where they are now?”  
Ren vanished. Hux sighed and sat back, ordered tea and studied the information that had come in from the surface. There wasn’t much, and what little there was wasn’t helpful. But that was not the problem that occupied Hux’s mind: Kylo Ren had lied to him.

_I’m sure it was nothing. Dreams are best forgotten._

He’d walked out after saying that, leaving Hux in bed with the blank feeling that often accompanied Ren’s lies. But what was the truth? That the near-forgotten dream-conversation was not nothing? His thoughts interrupted by Opan’s code opening the door, Hux sat upright and glared at a datapad. Opan saluted.  
“Sorry for the intrusion, sir. The Supreme Leader _repeatedly_ requests that you join him on the surface. He sent coordinates. Says he has found something underground.”  
“Thank you, Opan.” Hux looked up. “By any chance did the Supreme Leader reveal exactly what he has found? I take it you are conducting a full survey from orbit to reveal the presence of any concealed mining activity or habitable caves.”  
Opan inclined his head. “The survey is underway but there’s no sign of anything from the preliminary scan,” he said. “I... thought it presumptuous to question the Supreme Leader. I did not want to...” Opan’s hand rubbed his throat. Hux smiled.  
“Well, a sense of self-preservation is a good thing in a commanding officer. I am sure many a captain has saved their crew whilst saving themselves.” Opan reddened at the rebuke in Hux’s voice. Hux let out a long sigh. “I suppose I better get down there and look for myself. Have three squadrons on standby for a ground assault. Just in case the Supreme Leader missed something.”

 

The shuttle pilot landed the small craft close to Ren’s location and Hux walked down the ramp onto the rocky surface of the wind-rounded central uplift of a complex crater that spanned miles. The atmosphere was breathable but thin and Hux wished he’d brought the emergency air cylinder from the shuttle with him as he set off to meet Ren. The combination of lower than optimal gravity and lower than optimal oxygen saturation made him light-headed and he had to restrict his pace to a moderate walk. Ren was crouched down, left hand on the bare rock, right hand clutching his lightsaber.  
“Supreme Leader!” Hux thought his call sounded reedy in the marginal atmosphere so he took as deep a breath as possible and tried again. “Leader Ren!” Ren rose and turned. He glared at Hux.  
“I said _get down here_ and you hesitated. I am the Supreme Leader and I will have your obedience!”  
“Well then, I’m here now,” said Hux, approaching slowly. “What did you want to show me? Orbital scans showed nothing of interest to the First Order.”  
Ren growled and ignited his weapon. Hux took a step back at the sight of the crackling, red blade that buzzed and whooshed past his face. But Ren did not continue his attack on Hux. Instead he turned his fury on the rock. Hux closed his eyes as grit showered them both. He waited until he heard the sound of the lightsaber being deactivated and the flecks of grit stopped hitting his skin. He scowled at Ren’s back, watching the rise and fall of his heaving shoulders with a slight sense of satisfaction.  
“Did you want to show me what you might do to me if I did not jump fast enough when you whistled,” said Hux, “or was there a purpose to your summons?”

Ren turned slowly and faced Hux. Hux walked forward and reached one hand up to rub a speck of grit from Ren’s cheekbone. Ren closed his eyes and let his lip tremble for a second then sucked it between his teeth. Hux removed his glove and laid his hand on Ren’s cheek. Ren leaned in and kissed Hux, hands in his hair, and almost immediately Hux sensed Ren’s frustration ebb. Accusation of lying or withholding some of the truth postponed, Hux slipped his arms around Ren’s back and held him close.  
“What happened here, Kylo?” he asked, voice barely carrying. “What do you want me to see?”  
“She was here,” murmured Ren. “Recently. And she’s still near in the force. I feel it. But there’s more. Armitage, reach out. What can you sense? Look... deep.”  
Hux closed his eyes and let the sensation of the pressure of Kylo Ren’s body against his carry him. He felt the presence of Kylo loom in his mind, swamping everything else, until Ren said _tune me out too_ and somehow shrunk into the background noise. He felt the shuttle pilot’s boredom and dismissed it. He felt... Hux smiled. He felt the native creatures’ full-bellied contentment as they rasped at the algae. He dismissed this too, reluctantly. Ren said _deeper_ and Hux directed his attention down through the uplift that supported them above the greenish plain, following the rock structure to—

“Kylo!”

Hux opened his eyes, breathing heavily and unaware of having cried out in terror. He held tight to Ren, on the verge of hyperventilation. Ren held him until his panic subsided.  
“You felt it too, didn’t you?”  
“What’s down there?”  
“A trap.” Ren pushed Hux off. Hux stumbled and fell backwards as Ren ignited his lightsaber and vented his fury all over again. “She... She called me here! She said come alone! I trusted her!” Ren whirled to face Hux, pointing and waving. “I came to talk. I came to persuade her to join me. And she... she—“  
“She outsmarted you,” said Hux, getting up and dusting off his uniform. “A scavenger girl. May I make a suggestion, Supreme Leader?” Ren glared. Hux carried on speaking. “Get back in your shuttle and return to The Finalizer. Together we can blast a new crater here and turn whatever that... that _thing_ is beneath us to ash.”  
“It can’t be destroyed,” said Ren. “It’s a physical manifestation of the Dark Power. She must have discovered it and thought I’d want to use it, that I’d free it and be unable to control it and it would devour me. Next time you dismiss her as a _scavenger girl,_ think of what she almost accomplished here.”  
Hux nodded. “I see. I will send my shuttle back and accompany you on the Upsilon. We can discuss our next steps.”

While Hux pondered alternative strategies for finding one very small freighter in a very large galaxy, Ren’s mind remained on the past. “She must have known this location,” he said abruptly, breaking their silent march towards the Upsilon. “There wasn’t time for her to have found it by accident. She must have found the Sith texts. I thought they’d been destroyed. Burned in the fire. We’re close to Sith space here.”  
Hux refrained from adopting his most sarcastic voice and asking _which fire?_  since Ren seemed to be the source of so many flames of destruction. He walked by Ren’s side, sending out feelers for his shifting mood. He felt the moment the twisted dark force emanating from under the crater seemed to fall away, and Ren settled.  
“I will find her again,” said Ren, a note of decision in his voice. “I will tell her I passed her test and offer her one more chance.”  
Hux paused at the bottom of the ramp into the Upsilon. “What if she refuses?” he asked.  
Ren glared at him. “She will not. You will help me. I have foreseen it: she will rule by my side.”  
Hux raised his eyebrow at Ren’s back. There was no deception in Ren’s intent, and no blankness from concealment of his emotions. It occurred to Hux for the first time that just because Ren believed something, that in itself did not make it true. He took a deep but unsatisfying breath and said, “You said she was close. Do it now.”

Ren grabbed Hux by the hand and pulled him into the shuttle, sealing the doors and breathing deeply of the relatively oxygen-rich air that pressurised the cabin and made Hux’s head clear and ears pop.  
“Are you sure?” he asked, pulling Hux into an embrace. “Now?”  
“Yes,” replied Hux. “Honestly, I want you to get this girl out of your head. You’re obsessed, running after her when you have a fleet to rebuild and First Order High Command to convince. She’s a distraction. So,” Hux held up one hand, at risk of incurring the Supreme Leader’s wrath for silencing him with a gesture, “I will help you get this over with. By all means contact her through the force and get your third rejection. First time she left you bleeding in the snow. Second time she left you on the floor surrounded by fire and corpses.” Hux gave Ren a sarcastic grin. “Are you gambling on third time lucky?”

Hux insisted on getting off the surface of the planet before he was willing to allow Ren to use his scant command of the force to boost his own powers. Ren took the Upsilon into an orbit that tracked The Finalizer’s while Hux gave Opan orders that they were not to be disturbed unless the Millennium Falcon herself were to appear on their long range scanners. When ready to begin, Ren held Hux close and kissed him. Hux stroked Ren’s hair.  
“I see a pattern,” said Hux, smiling. “Physical intimacy clears your mind.”  
Ren smiled back. “And yours. It’s easier to connect with you when you think of me with affection.”  
“Is that why you pursue this physical relationship with me?” asked Hux, a laugh ready for Ren’s denial. “So that you could more easily access my force ability?”

Ren’s pause gave Hux an answer and his laugh died. His voice hardened as he tried to keep back the hot flush of shame that threatened to well up and spill over. “Well then. The sooner you deal with your scavenger the sooner we can all get back to normal.”  
“Armitage,” Ren held Hux’s face in both hands. “It’s not like that.”  
“Why the hesitation, Ren? Why hide what you’re feeling if it’s not... disgust at the whoring you have to do to persuade me to add my power to yours?”  
“Listen to me!” Ren leaned his forehead against Hux’s. “It’s—“  
Hux stepped back, shaking his head, face set harder than the rocky uplift they’d walked on. “I don’t care for your lies, Ren. You know my feelings for you. You accused me of _fucking up-rank_ and I let you see into my feelings for you for yourself! I can’t believe I fell for this. For you. Has it all been an act?”  
“NO!” Ren held Hux still, suspended a few inches from the floor, a hand warm on his cheek, aware of the one true weakness he could exploit. “Armitage, you know I want you and you want me. You know I need you on my side and you need me. We don’t want to fight about this. Not now.” Hux watched Ren’s dark eyes and listened to his deep, sure tones. “You want to help me. You need to help me. Our feelings for one another are not important.”  
Hux’s eyes drifted closed. Ren pulled him close again and kissed him.  
“Hmm,” said Hux, smiling again and slipping his hand under Ren’s tunic and looking for his waistband. “I suppose it doesn’t matter. We can talk about our relationship issues later. Let’s find your scavenger.”

Ren unfastened Hux’s clothing and his own, shuffled over to the passenger seats and pulled Hux into his lap. Hux swung one leg across to sit facing Ren and straddling him. Hux leaned in and kissed Ren, his left hand weaving into Ren’s hair and his right sliding down Ren’s stomach and into his underwear. Ren kissed back, radiating desire, shifting in his seat to allow Hux’s hand to stroke down over his balls then back up to clasp around his shaft. From the light pressure and slight, slow movements, Ren knew that Hux was in no hurry and he desperately wanted this, to experience Hux taking his time with building his climax and tipping him over only when he begged that he could take no more. But he had a more important task to attempt ahead of pleasure. He shifted again, displacing Hux for a few seconds, and pushed his clothing down over his hips then did the same for Hux.  
“Armitage, I want to do this for you. Kiss me and let me do all the rest.”

Ren was efficient. He fed Hux images of potential discovery that added to the thrill of being exposed in a shuttle where at any moment Opan could override the holofeed lock with his emergency code and catch them. Hux came hard, turning his face from their kisses and breathing hot against Ren’s cheek. Ren followed seconds later then reclined against the seat, pink-faced and grinning. He wiped his hands and his chest with his vest. Hux laughed.  
“You’re going to have a reminder of me with you all day.”  
Ren laughed too. “I’m the Supreme Leader,” he said. “No one will dare point out that I stink of sex. Don’t get up!” Ren slid Hux into the next seat, fixed his clothes then took hold of Hux’s hand. “Close your eyes. Are you thinking about me kindly?”  
Hux smiled and nodded. Ren felt the small boost from Hux’s force ability. He focused on the moment he and Rey had fought back to back against a common enemy, reaching out into the ebb and flow of the force, mind calmed.

 _”You!”_  
“Yes. I did not fall for the dark force entity you sent me to discover. I resisted it.”  
_”Do you expect me to be impressed?”_  
“I want to see you face to face. I want... the entity showed me what I might become. Rey, I want you to help guide me to the light.”  
_”You’re not serious! You expect me to... to trust you? The Supreme Leader of the First Order?”_  
“I ask you to give me a chance. I feel the light, Rey. You were right about me. About the conflict. Now Snoke’s gone I am free of the constant—”  
_”I do sense conflict in you but it’s not the self-doubt I felt before you took me to Snoke. You’re hiding something from me.”_  
“Help me to let go of the dark, Rey. I can’t do it alone. I need you.”  
_”I do not need you, Kylo Ren. There’s no coming back. You killed Han in front of me. You broke Luke. Do you expect me to lead you to Leia?”_  
“Leave her out of this!”  
_”So you do feel something! That’s the first honest thing I’ve detected in you. Don’t worry about Leia. She knows Ben Solo is dead, replaced by a monster. She has mourned for Han, Luke and Ben. You’ve taken everything from her and you will not be forgiven.”_  
“Please, Rey, let me find you. I want a way out of this horror. Help me get free of the First Order.”  
_”NO!”_

Rey vanished from Ren’s vision and Hux sat up. Exhausted, Ren turned to face Hux, expecting harsh words for his duplicity in manipulating him then an exchange of affectionate apologies. But twisted with disappointed anger, Hux fired his blaster and Ren slumped sideways in his chair. Hux got up and activated the comms unit on the co-pilot’s control console.  
“Finalizer, this is Upsilon zero one. General Hux requesting immediate tractor into hangar three and urgent medical assistance for blaster fire. The Supreme Leader has been shot.”

 

From the bridge of The Finalizer, Hux looked out over the smooth wing of The Supremacy with pride. It did not matter that only the external hull had been repaired so far, the flagship looked as gracefully impressive as it ever had. The fleet was not fully repaired and the new crop of young officers fresh from the academies were not yet fit for command, but Hux felt secure in his confidence that the First Order would reign unchallenged for a long time.  
“Sir! You have a priority message from the Supreme Leader. He demands that you take it in your private chambers.”  
Hux glanced down at the young officer on comms. “Then send it to my private chambers. Inform the Supreme Leader that I will respond as soon as I get there.”  
Hux marched along the observation walkway at a pace that was almost a trot, relieved that Ren had chosen not to project onto the bridge for a public and painful display of his displeasure. There would be retribution for his treason, Hux knew that, but perhaps he could talk the Supreme Leader round or offer to _forget_ that Kylo Ren had begged to be allowed to join the scavenger. He reflected with some trepidation that, had their situations been reversed, Hux would not have let someone who had witnessed a cowardly attempt to abandon the First Order then deliberately shot him at point blank range on the stun setting remain alive to tell the tale.

He paused at the door to his suite, hand over the entry pad, eyes closed. After a few seconds, he walked in. “Supreme Leader, this is a surprise,” he said before walking through into the main chamber. “I thought you planned to remain on The Supremacy until fully recovered.”  
Kylo Ren lounged on Hux’s sofa. Hux resisted the temptation to walk up and squeeze his arm to make sure he was really present in corporeal form. “Plans change, general,” said Ren, sitting forward. “This matter demanded that you see me.”  
“Well then. To what do I owe the... honour of this personal visit?” Hux busied himself with preparing tea. Anything to keep his mind from dwelling on—  
“You shot me.” Ren loomed behind Hux. Hux could feel Ren grip his lightsaber.  
“Ah. Yes.” He put down his cup and grasped the edge of the worktop, staring at the speckled silver pattern set in glossy black.  
Ren ignited his lightsaber. “I could have you executed as a traitor,” he said, walking forwards pace for pace as Hux walked back until his back bumped the wall.  
“You were begging the scavenger to save you from the First Order! I was preventing you from making a mis—“  
“LIAR!” Ren yelled at Hux and Hux turned his face away, blinking and grimacing with fear. “Tell me the truth,” said Ren, face up close. “Why did you shoot?”  
“You...” Hux closed his eyes and shook his head. He forced his panic to recede and reached out to read Ren’s intent. He swallowed and dragged his dry lips between his teeth. Ren’s emotions were blank, hidden from him. He curled his hands into fists and squeezed until pain centred him. “You tricked me,” he said. “You used me over and over. You made me think you... you actually liked me when all you wanted was my ability to use the force so that you could reach _her_ more easily. It’s her you want, not me. You are so obsessed with her that you might hand over the entire First Order to the rebels so that you can have _her_ at your side instead of... So I shot you so that I could think clearly, sure that you were not up here,” Hux pointed to his temple, “driving my actions.”

Ren held the lightsaber close to Hux’s face, but this time Hux refused to flinch. He glared past the red blade and bored into Ren’s dark eyes then spoke again. “You detected my weakness for you and you used it but I’ve found new strength since you made me hate you again. I am not your plaything. I am not your puppet. I am not your _rabid cur_ to kick around and throw scraps to.” Hux found power in his anger. “I am your _general_ and the leader of your military! Treat me with respect or kill me now.”

If Hux could have retracted his last four words, he would have. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, determined not to cry or beg or scream when the searing plasma severed and cauterised in one sweeping arc. The buzz and heat of the lightsaber vanished with a crackle and a click as Ren clipped it back onto his belt.  
“Armitage, I would have said anything to get her to agree to a face to face meeting. One on one I’d win. She’s powerful but untrained and erratic. I have the discipline she lacks. I have learned to control my thoughts and conceal my feelings so that I can’t be read so easily.” Ren sighed and pressed one hand flat over Hux’s chest. “Even you could not tell any more what I believed to be true. I... I regret that.”  
Hux opened his eyes and frowned at Ren. “Are you apologising?”  
“For making you believe I didn’t... for misleading you.” Ren looked down.  
“Well that’s a start,” said Hux. “Let me see. You mind-tricked me at least once, you used sex as a way of manipulating me into lending you my force ability, you lied about it when I overheard one of your heart-to-heart chats with the scavenger and you made me think you could... feel something for me when you just needed me in some kind of happy, fucked out afterglow. Well. Well done, Supreme Leader Kylo Ren. You made me so ashamed to be me that I lost my wits for a second and I shot you. Good thing my blaster was on low power or this conversation would not be possible.”

Ren stepped back, looking at Hux as if he’d grown Gungan ears. Hux pushed past him into the main room. Ren followed. “You think I...” He recovered a little. “Yes,” he said. “I did most of those things and I would do them again in a heartbeat if I thought it would bring the girl to us. But... “ Ren took a deep breath and shook his head. “It’s not the way you think. You and I were linked in the force when I found her. I could conceal my thoughts from her, but you could not. If you had known the truth she’d have had it from you. I needed her to ignore you. I needed you to hate me. I needed you to believe I was a traitor so that she might believe it too.”  
Hux sneered at Ren. “So how did that work out for you? I think you were about fifty percent successful. She saw through you but you completely convinced me. Now, are we done? I have a star destroyer to look after and we both have a High Command meeting to prepare for.”

Hux watched Ren’s face. Ren moved as if to pass Hux on his way to the exit, but he paused and cupped Hux’s face with both hands, leaned in and kissed him.  
“Let Opan have this ship,” he said, quietly. “Command mine for me instead.”  
Hux pulled away a little. “The Supremacy? You want me to command your flagship?”  
“Yes.”  
“But I shot you!”  
“I understood why immediately,” said Ren, stroking Hux’s hair and kissing him again. “I forgave you immediately. I only wanted to hear you say it, hear you say you hate me to my face and feel if you mean it.”  
“And what do you feel?” asked Hux, a flutter in the pit of his stomach and a buzz in his ears.  
Ren smiled. “You’re disappointed in me. Angry. Afraid that I will leave the First Order leaderless on a whim. When I look past all that I see the core of your feelings for me. They’re changed, but... strong. You—” Ren broke off and grinned at Hux’s unspoken thoughts. “We have a High Command meeting to prepare for. I intend to announce your promotion to Grand Marshal and your appointment to command The Supremacy.”  
“But only if I forgive you?” There was a shard of ice in Hux’s voice. “If I have sex with you again? If I let you invade my mind whenever you want?”  
Ren shrugged. “I am asking you to forgive me, but your promotion does not depend on it. I will open my mind to you if you ask it.”  
“I see.” Hux frowned and Ren sensed his indecision. He gave Hux a moment of the affection he craved: a stroke of his hair and a gentle kiss. Hux slipped his arms around Ren’s waist and kissed him in return.  
“Do you accept?” asked Ren.  
Hux replied without hesitation, “I accept the promotion.”  
“Will you forgive me?”  
Hux sighed and rested his head on Ren’s shoulder, calmed by the warmth and affection that Ren allowed him to see. “I suppose I have no choice if we are to work closely together. It would not do to be holding grudges.”  
Ren chewed his lip. Hux raised his head and snapped out, “Just ask the question, Kylo.”  
“Do you think we could have sex again?” Ren looked away. Hux suppressed a laugh.  
“The meeting is in forty minutes. There is not enough time.”  
“Time for what?” asked Ren with a slight frown.  
Hux grinned like a hungry cherfer and leaned close to Ren’s ear. He imagined himself in his new uniform kneeling before Ren, nude on his throne. Voice a murmur, he suggested, _”Read my mind.”_


End file.
